Photovoltaic Module Fault. Part 2: Detection with Quantitative‐Model Approach

This chapter examines the problems regarding current and voltage measurements in online monitoring as well as a set of recommendations on quantitative model‐based monitoring systems which use electrical measurements of current, voltage, and power. It focuses on characterizing the error in voltage and current measurements of photovoltaic (PV) cells and examines their impact on the temperature on the cell output power voltage and current. The chapter focuses on PV arrays, which have nonlinear characteristics of limited current and voltage, (I–V) curves. Solar cell I–V characteristic curves are graphs of output voltage versus current for different levels of insolation and temperature and can tell a lot about a PV cell or panel's ability to convert sunlight into electricity. The chapter presents power loss induced by temperature variation along the year and its influence on fault detection in PV systems.